Let's turn again to First Chronicles
chapter 21. As I told the class this morning,
the theme of the book of First Chronicles is instruction and
worship. We're instructed in First Chronicles
how sinners can approach God. And you know, this clearly teaches
us God can't be approached in just any way that men think of.
In 1 Chronicles chapter 13, we read about David bringing the
ark back. He didn't bring it back according
to the word of God. He didn't have it on those staves and the
shoulders of the priest. He made up a new cart for it,
had it being pulled by oxen. And as the oxen stumbled, Uzzah
was sitting there on that cart and he reached back to steady
the ark. Nobody wants the ark to fall
down on the ground. That seemed like a good idea. God killed
him for it. He touched the ark. The ark wasn't
being brought back in the way God's appointed way on the shoulders
of the priest. It's serious business to approach
God. And what we do, we come before God in worship. We come
before him in prayer. This is serious business now.
We approach God the way he's appointed or we'll be destroyed.
And all of scripture teaches us this. Sinners can only come
to God through the blood of the sacrifice. If God's going to
accept sinners, there's got to be a substitute with blood to
offer. And the blood that he offers
must be blood that God will accept. It must be perfect, sinless blood.
Well, that sacrifice, that substitute can only be our Lord Jesus Christ.
In this chapter, 1 Chronicles 21, I want us to see three things. I want us to see David. as a
type of the first Adam, who by his sin condemned his whole race
to death and condemnation. Then second, I want us to see
David as a type of a sinner, a repentant sinner, begging God
for mercy. And then thirdly, I want us to
see King David as a type of Christ, our substitute, as a type of
the second Adam in whom there's mercy. At first, we see David
as a type of the first Adam. First Chronicles 21, verse 1.
And Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number
Israel. Turn back to 2 Samuel 24. This same account of this
story is given to us in 2 Samuel 24. But this sheds some different
light on the beginning of our story here. 2 Samuel 24 verse
1. And again, the anger of the Lord
was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to
say, go number Israel and Judah. Now, why in Samuel does it say
God was angry with Israel and God moved David to number Israel? And here in 1 Chronicles, it
says Satan provoked David to number Israel. Well, we know
God is the first cause of everything, don't we? But we also know this,
God's not the author of sin. Satan moved David to sin, just
like he moved Adam to sin. And he did it by God's permission.
God allowed Satan to cause both these men to sin, Adam and David,
so that God's purpose would be accomplished. So his purpose
of redemption in Christ Jesus would be seen. And David's sin
brings punishment on all of Israel, not just him, but all of Israel,
just like Adam's transgression brought death on all of his race.
Look at verse two in our text. And David said to Joab and to
the rulers of the people, go number Israel from Beersheba
even to Dan, and bring the number of them to me that I may know
it. And Joab answered, the Lord make his people a hundred times
so many more as they be, but my Lord, the king, are they not
all my Lord's service? No matter how many they are,
they're all your servants, David. Why then does my Lord require
this thing? Why will he be the cause of trespass to Israel?
Nevertheless, the king's word prevailed against Joab. Wherefore,
Joab departed and went throughout all Israel and came to Jerusalem.
And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people unto David.
And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and a hundred thousand
men that drew sword. And Judah was four hundred, three
score, and ten thousand men that drew sword. But Levi and Benjamin
counted he not among them, for the king's word was abominable
to Joab. And God was displeased with this
thing, therefore he smote Israel. Now David knew better than to
count the people. Why would David want to number
the people of Israel? Well, the only answer is pride.
It was just his own pride. He wanted to know how big his
kingdom was, how many people he ruled over. You know, this
is how I value, how I can kind of evaluate my success in life. How many people am I ruling over?
David forgot these are God's people. They're not his at all.
They're God's people anyway. And you know, I would warn us
about just be careful about putting too much stock in numbers. John Chapman made a Brilliant
statement, brilliant in simplicity and how obvious it is. But this
is what he said. He said, you know, he said numbers
are a sign of God's blessing on a man's ministry. Then Billy
Graham's the greatest preacher alive today. Pretty good point,
isn't it? David forgot that. But now old
Joab, who was with David, David gave Joab in order to go out
and number the people. Joab understood that. Now, Joab
is not a good man. Joab is a wicked, self-serving
man. And David never dealt with him. But the first thing David told
Solomon to do when Solomon became king is, you kill Joab. He's
caused me a lot of grief. First thing you do, Solomon,
put him to death. Now, that's the kind of man Joab was. Numbering
the people was an abomination to even Joab. It was so much,
so abominable to him, he wouldn't even give David an accurate count.
He didn't even count two old drives. Now, if counting the
people was an abomination to a man like Joab, think how wicked
this really is to number the people. Joab's a wicked man, yet there
are times. Joab seems like he's very loyal
to David, seems like he's helpful to David, and this is one of
them. Joab is a rebel. David is a man after God's own
heart. Yet, Joab the rebel is the one
acting like he's got some wisdom. And David is the believer who's
acting like a complete fool. He's acting so foolish. And this
is a lesson to us. We don't need to think we can
take on Satan. Even an unregenerate man acts
with more wisdom than a believer does if that believer falls under
the influence of Satan. David was acting very differently.
We don't want anything to do with Satan. Every interaction
man ever has with him causes sin and sorrow and death. We
don't want anything to do with him. Now, why was numbering the
people so wicked? Look back in Exodus chapter 30.
I'll show you. It's something that's more important
than even the pride of David's heart. Numbering the people. Well, it violates God's commandment
and it violates the picture of atonement in Christ. It violates
God's instruction on how God is to be worshipped, how God
can be approached. In Exodus 30 verse 11, we have
God's instruction on what to do if Israel is to be numbered,
if there's going to be a census. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel
after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom
for his soul unto the Lord. when thou numberst them, that
there be no plague among them when thou numberst them. This
they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered,
half a shekel, after the shekel the sanctuary. A shekel is 20
giras, and half shekel shall be the offering of the Lord.
Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from
20 years old and above, shall give an offering unto the Lord.
The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less
than half a shekel when they give an offering unto the Lord
to make an atonement for your souls. This is the atonement
money. Now this is such a beautiful
picture of atonement for sin in the Lord Jesus Christ. The
price of atonement for every one of God's children, the price
of atonement for all spiritual Israel is always the exact same
price. It's always the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it takes to save
all of us, no matter who we are. And it's God's instruction that
every time Israel's counted, every time there's a census taken,
this atonement money must be given. David gives orders for
this census to be taken, but he makes no mention of the atonement
money, does he? Now, the reason this is so serious,
this numbering of the people, is no man can approach God without
the atonement. There must be an atonement. No
man can approach God outside the Lord Jesus Christ, who is
God's appointed atonement. Now let me show you how dangerous
the pride of man is, because this is where pride always leads
a man. When David numbered the people
without taking up the atonement money, you know what he was saying?
He's saying, I can approach God without the atonement. I'm so
successful, I'm the king. I can approach God without the
atonement. Well, God's never gonna allow that. Now that will
end in death every time. Of course God was displeased
with this because God can only be pleased with us where? In
Christ, in that atonement, in the Lord Jesus Christ. David's
a picture of the first Adam, isn't he? When Adam sinned in
the garden, God was displeased. His displeasure fell on the whole
human race and we all died. When Adam sinned, we all died. The plague of sin killed every
one of us. Just like David's sin caused
all of Israel to be smitten because of his sin. He's a type of the
first Adam, the representative man of the whole human race.
Well, that's the problem. David's transgression brought
death. Well, secondly, I want us to see David as a type of
the repentant sinner. Look at verse eight in our text.
And David said unto God, I've sinned greatly because I've done
this thing. But now I beseech thee, do away the iniquity of
thy servant, for I have done very foolishly. Now the Holy
Spirit, earlier Satan was directing David, wasn't he? Now the Holy
Spirit's directing David. And I know that so because now
David realizes he's a great sinner. And only the Holy Spirit can
show us that. When we begin to see our sin,
we begin to see something about the sin of my heart. Now the
Holy Spirit is showing us something. This is the work of the Holy
Spirit. Only He can show us that. Now I know natural logic can
tell us We sin, you know, any unregenerate person will say,
yeah, I sin, you know, I commit some sin every once in a while.
I mean, everybody, natural logic can tell you we sin. But when
natural logic tells us I've done wrong, I've sinned, what do we
do? Well, I'll do better. I'll do
better next time. That's what natural logic tells
us. When the Holy Spirit teaches us we're a sinner, what do we
do? We don't try to do better because we know we can't do better.
We don't try to make up for our sin because we know we can't
make up for our sin. When the Holy Spirit teaches us we're
a sinner, we cry for mercy. Lord, I'm a sinner. I've done
awful sin. Would you take away my iniquity?
Would you take away my sin? Oh God, take away my sin. That's
when the Holy Spirit teaches us we're a sinner. And that's
repentance. Now there's a difference now
in true repentance and just being sorry. And if we're sorry for
just the consequences of our sin, well, that's not repentance.
I'm just sorry I got caught. Pharaoh told Moses something
very similar to what David said here. Pharaoh told Moses, I've
sinned against God. He knew he sinned against God,
but he didn't repent, did he? Pharaoh never repented. He never
asked God, take away. Moses, would you ask God, take
away my, I've sinned against God. Would you ask God, take
away my sin? He never did that. Pharaoh never turned away from
himself and turned toward God, did he? See, that's just the
natural conscience telling you, I've sinned. And Pharaoh didn't
want his sin taken away. What did he ask for? Take the
consequences of my sin away. Just take the punishment away.
True repentance turns to God, turns away from self and turns
to God and begs God, take my sin away. That's what I need. Big difference in there. True
repentance is taking sides with God against yourself. and meaning
it like David does here. Lord, whatever judgment you give
me is right. That's what my sin deserves.
But in your mercy, would you take away my iniquity? And a
truly repentant sinner always does this. He always admits his
own guilt. I've done very foolishly. Not
somebody, Adam did, I mean Adam did, but I've done very foolishly. My sin is my fault. It's my sin. It's not my parents' fault. It's
not Adam's fault. It's my fault. My sin and my
condemnation, my punishment, God gives me, it's my fault.
But Lord, would you take away my sin? Would you have mercy
on me for Christ's sake? That's a repentant sinner. And
a sinner who truly repents, always seeks mercy from God. Lord, would
you take away my sin and have mercy on me. A sinner who repents
seeks mercy urgently, urgently, and earnestly. Look here at verse
nine. And the Lord spake unto Gad,
David's seer, saying, go and tell David, saying, thus saith
the Lord, I offer thee three things. Choose thee one of them
that I may do it unto thee. So Gad came to David and said
unto him, thus saith the Lord, Choose thee the three years of
famine, or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while
that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee, or else three
days of the sword of the Lord, even the pestilence in the land,
and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the coast of Israel.
Now therefore advise thyself what word I should bring into
him that sent me. And David said unto Gad, I'm
in a great strain. This is a hard decision. I'm
between a rock and a hard place. Let me fall now into the hand
of the Lord, for very great are his mercies, but let me not fall
into the hand of man. Now, David, he didn't know what
to choose, but now he quit acting very foolishly and he began to
act with some wisdom, God-given wisdom. He said, I don't know
what to do. I throw myself on God's mercies.
Great are his mercies. I just throw myself on his mercies.
I throw this nation that I love. I throw us on the mercy of God.
Don't let me fall into the hand of man. There's no mercy there.
The Lord's mercies are great. So I throw myself to mercy of
the court. I throw myself on the mercy of the judge of all. God's mercy is great. How great of a sinner are you?
How much mercy do you need? If you need mercy, God's great
in mercy. We won't turn to these scriptures.
Let me read them to you. See what David said in other
places about God's mercy. Psalm 57 verse 10, David says,
for thy mercy is great under the heavens. It just reaches
further than I can imagine. Psalm 86 verse 13, for great
is thy mercy toward me, and thou hast delivered my soul from the
lowest hell. It reaches to the heavens and
delivered me from the lowest hell. Great mercy. David said
Psalm 103 verse 11, for as the heaven is high above the earth,
so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. Psalm 145
verse eight, the Lord is gracious, full of compassion. He's slow
to anger and he's of great mercy. In Psalm 136, 26 times, David
said, God's mercy endureth forever, forever. You'll never find the
end of it. And God himself said in Isaiah 54 verse seven, for
a small moment, I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I
gather thee. Lord, I've gone far from thee. I throw myself on your great
mercy. In great mercy, which you gather
me to you, a repentant sinner will always have a good plea
if you just plead God's mercy. If you're a sinner, God has mercy
for you. God's great in mercy. God is great in forgiving the
sin of his people by his mercy and by his grace. God forgives
sin. But now listen, the message of
modern day preaching stops right there. God loves you, God have
mercy. God does love his people. God
does forgive the sin of his people. God is merciful to his people.
But now listen, we still suffer the consequences of our sin.
Sickness, sorrow, death. Where's all that come from? It
comes from our sin, doesn't it? God forgives sin, but now don't
anybody here go out and start living a life of crime saying,
well, God forgives sin and He'll just protect me. No, He won't
either now. There's consequences to our sin.
He's not going to protect you from the judge. There's consequences
to our sin. God forgives sin. We suffer the
consequences of our sin. And thank God in His mercy and
in His grace, the sin of His elect has consequence to our
substitute. If consequence is to the substitute,
God will show mercy, but never at the expense of his justice,
ever. God will punish every sin. God must show mercy, but he's
going to do it in justice. And the only way we ever see
mercy and grace meet together, the only way we ever see mercy
and justice meet together, and both magnified, is in the person
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's who every sinner who
truly repents seeks. They seek Christ. Well, our third
point is timely. Let me show you David as a type
of Christ, as a type of the second Adam. Verse 14 in our text, 1
Chronicles 21. So the Lord sent pestilence upon
Israel and there fell of Israel 70,000 men. You know, David wanted
to have pride in his numbers, didn't he? God killed 70,000. God touched him where he was.
God met him at his point of rebellion. Killed 70,000 men. And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem
to destroy it. And as he was destroying, the
Lord beheld, and he repented him of the evil. And he said
to the angel that destroyed, it's enough. Stay now thine hand. And the angel of the Lord stood
by the threshing floor of Ornan, the Jebusite. Now David wouldn't
choose which of the three options the Lord gave him, but the Lord
chose. And the Lord sent pestilence upon Israel. Notice here, The
Lord sent his sword. This is God's judgment. He didn't
leave this to somebody else. This is God's judgment. And 70,000 people died because
of the sin of one man. Because David numbered the people
without the atonement money. That's a picture of our father
Adam, isn't it? Every son of Adam died because
of the sin of the first Adam. 70,000 people died that day. And you know, not one innocent
person died. Not one. I know the Lord sent this pestilence
because of David's sin, didn't he? But everybody in Israel is
guilty. They were guilty of idolatry.
They were guilty of following and supporting Absalom in his
resurrection, trying to take the throne from David. They're
guilty of not bowing to God's King. Just like you and I are
guilty of not bowing to King Christ. I'm going to do it my
way, just like our father Adam. We won't submit ourselves to
the righteousness of Christ. We're guilty. 70,000 people died. But Mike, not everybody died.
Not everybody. The plague stopped. Oh, the plague
was sweeping the land. This angel was over Jerusalem
to destroy the whole city. And God stopped the plague. You
see, he says here in verse 15, God sent an angel unto Jerusalem
to destroy it, and as he was destroying, the Lord beheld. And he repented him of the evil
and said to the angel that destroyed, it's enough. Stay your hand. It's enough. Now scripture says
it repented the Lord of the evil. That doesn't mean God changed
his mind. God never changed his mind. He's eternal. Tell you
what this means. This means God changed the way
He was revealing Himself to Israel at this time. He's changed the
way. He's revealing His will and His
purpose and His character to Israel. God's been showing strict
judgment, hasn't He? Sent this angel, killed 70,000
men. Now God's going to change the
way He's revealing Himself to Israel. You reckon after 70,000
people died, people understood God's just, isn't He? Now God's
gonna show I'm just and I'm merciful. I'm gonna show mercy. He's changing
the way he's revealing himself to his people. God stopped the
plague. But you notice that angel was
still hovering over Jerusalem. He was in the air hovering over
Jerusalem, over the farm of this man, Ornan. Now I want you to
look at David's prayer, verse 17. This is what brought me to
this chapter in the first place. This is the prayer of the substitute.
And David said unto God, is it not I that commanded the people
to be numbered? Even I it is that have sinned and done evil
indeed. But as for these sheep, what
have they done? Lest thine hand, I pray thee,
O Lord my God, be on me and on my father's house, but not on
thy people, that they should be plagued. Oh, that's such a
precious prayer. And you see how David's prayer
here is a picture of the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ, our
substitute. David said, well, I'm the one that sinned. I've
sinned indeed. But these people haven't done
any evil. It's me, you know, let them go and punish me. Punish me, punish my house, punish
my people, but let them, or my house, my children, but now let
the people go. Isn't that a great prayer? It's
the prayer of the representative of the people, isn't it? Punish
me and let them go free. Everybody thinks the king, he
gets everything his way, right? He sits in his palace and everybody
serves him and he just lives high and mighty, high and all.
But it's the king, the king who said, kill me and let the people
go free. Oh, what a king. And you see how David, his prayer
is just dripping in love for Israel. David said, the people
didn't do anything. I'm the only one guilty. Well,
now that's not so. Everybody's guilty. David said,
I'm the only one guilty. That's love speaking in it. I'm the only one guilty. Let
him go free. But this is the prayer of the substitute. It's
not just some sappy prayer. This is the prayer of the substitute.
Christ, our substitute, pleaded with his father. Father, charge
me with their sin. And they're guilty. No doubt
about that. They're guilty and sinned indeed. But charge me
with their sin. Punish me for their sin. Kill
me for their sin. And let these go free. That's
the prayer of the substitute. And that prayer was prayed in
eternal love for his people. He praised the father, let me
take their sin and let me bear their punishment. Make their
sin be my sin. Now that's imputation. This thing
of imputation, the imputation of sin to Christ and the imputation
of righteousness to his people is not just shuffling paper now. It's not just a legal transaction.
The substitute said, make their sin my sin. Make it actually
become my sin. Make the sin of my people to
be my sin and punish me for that iniquity. Psalm 40 verse 12,
the Messiah calls, he calls the sin of his people, mine iniquity. It was imputed to him so that
he called it mine. Now that's love. What love? that the holy, perfect Son of
God would say, impute their sin to me. Oh, that's love. And as
a result of being made sin, Christ our substitute bore the full
wrath of God. He bore all the punishment that
the sin of his people deserve and put it away. This is not
just King David, but the King of Kings, the one who sits on
an eternal throne saying, kill me. Let my people go free. Let my people live because I've
taken their sin away and I've made them righteous. You know,
David said that the people are innocent. They haven't done anything.
Well, they really had. But when Christ speaks, he says,
let my people go. I've made them not guilty. And
not like they're innocent, they're innocent. They're innocent in
Him. He took our sin, the sin of His
people, and He gave His people His innocence, His holiness,
His righteousness, and justice demands they go free. See, this
isn't just love speaking. This is justice speaking. Justice says, kill me. That sin's my sin. And justice
says, let them go free. They never sinned. I gave them
my righteousness. Just as surely, just as completely
as the sin of God's lack was charged to Christ our substitute,
his righteousness was charged as being. And a sinner, the only
way a sinner can actually be made righteous is if Christ would
have made sin for them. He traded our sin for His righteousness. So this is the prayer. Christ
our substitute for His people. Father, punish me and let my
people go free. Well, you know, the Father is
holy. He can't just say, you know, this is my son. This is
my son asking me this. I'll just ignore the sin of his
people. I'll just ignore the sin of these people he's praying.
And I'll just let them go free, even though they're guilty. No,
the father can't say that. Not until it be God he can. Their
sin must be punished. 70,000 people died. Now, not
one innocent person died that day. Not one. Everyone who died
was guilty. God, and you know what? God didn't
spare any guilty people either. He spared the guilty. He punished
their sin and their substitute. He punished their sin and their
sacrifice. Look back at Numbers chapter
14. I told you in the lesson this morning
about prayer, calling on the God of the Bible. If you would
have your prayer heard, call on the one who hears prayer.
Call on God as He's revealed Himself in His Word. This is
how God reveals Himself in his word. Numbers 14 and verse 17. And now I beseech thee, let the
power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying,
now this is how the Lord has spoken, this is how he identified
himself. The Lord is long-suffering, and of great mercy, forgiving
iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty. Now you tell me how God can be
long-suffering, of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression,
and yet, at the same time, by no means clearing the guilty. There's only one way. It's through
the death of the substitute, by the substitute being punished
in our place. Christ, our substitute, prayed
that he would be punished in the place of his people as their
substitute. so they could go free, bury his righteousness.
And the father said, I'll grant that request. I want to tell
you what, it's going to be costly. This is a costly transaction. If the sin of Christ's people
is going to be put away, he's going to have to bear the full
brunt of God's wrath and hatred against sin. Look here at verse
18 in our text, first Chronicles 21. And the angel of the Lord
commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up and set
up an altar unto the Lord at the threshing floor of Ornan
the Jebusite. And David went up at the saying
of Gad, which he spake in the name of the Lord. And Ornan turned
back and he saw the angel, he saw that angel hovering over
him with that sword drawn, and his four sons with him hit themselves.
Now Ornan was threshing wheat. And as David came to Ornan, Ornan
looked and saw David. He went out of the threshing
floor and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground.
Then David said to Ornan, grant me the place of this threshing
floor that I may build an altar there on under the Lord. Thou
grant it me for the full price that the plague may be stayed
from the people. And Ornan said unto David, take it these, David,
take it for free and let my Lord the King do that which is good
in his eyes. Lo, I give thee the oxen also for the burnt offerings,
and the threshing instruments for the wood for the burnt offering.
I give you the wheat for the meat offering. I give it all.
David, take it all. It's free. I won't charge anything
for it. And King David said in Oran A&A, But I will verily buy
it for the full price, for I will not take that which is thine
for the Lord, nor burnt offerings without cost. In 2 Samuel 24,
David said, I won't offer it to the Lord, that which cost
me nothing, and I won't do that. So David gave to Ornan for the
place 600 shekels of gold by weight. And David built there
an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings,
and called upon the Lord. And he answered him from heaven
by fire upon the altar of burnt offering. Now this angel had
stopped when God said, told the angel, stop, it's enough. That
angel had stopped over the farm with his sword drawn in his hand
over a farm of this man named Ornan. He was over his threshing
floor. He and his sons were threshing wheat. Now you just imagine this
man, Ornan, his sons, his family, seeing the angel of the Lord
hovering over his farm with his sword drawn in his hand. 70,000 people had died. They're
scared out of their wits. They run and hide, you know.
There he is hiding somewhere on this threshing floor. Now
he sees King David coming. He says, what a day. He goes
out to see the king, you know, and David says, Ornan, I want
to buy your threshing floor. I'm going to build an altar here
and offer a burnt sacrifice so the plague will stop. You've
got to offer sacrifice to the Lord. We can only be accepted
in the blood of the sacrifice. I'm going to buy it from you.
And Ornan says, David, take it all for free. Take it for free.
He didn't even want to bother with the time it was going to
take to exchange money. Ornan wanted to live. David just
take it. Offer the sacrifice. But the sacrifice cannot be had
for free. It can't be. It's expensive. Sin is expensive. Sin against
the eternal God can't be put away cheaply. It's an expensive
sacrifice. And David said, I won't take
it for free. I won't take it at a reduced sale price. Don't
put it on a 30% off Labor Day sale. I won't take it at a reduced
price. I won't pay the full price. The full price. I won't offer
to the Lord that which costs me nothing. The Lord's worthy
more than that, isn't he? I won't offer the Lord that which
costs me nothing. He's worthy of more than that.
And more importantly, the Lord demands more than that. God's
justice demands the full price for sin be paid. Even when it's God's own son,
even when it's God's own son doing the paying, the full price
is going to be paid. There can be no remission of
sin without the blood, without the blood of the sacrifice. And
if the Lord Jesus is going to pay for the sin of his people,
it's going to be the full price. He's not going to get a family
discount. He'll pay the full price. He'll pay his own precious
blood. He'll give his life. He'll die
in their place because God cannot accept anything less. And you
know, it's no accident this scene took place on the threshing floor. giving us a picture of the suffering
of Christ. He gave His blood and He died. It wasn't a quick death. He suffered. He was threshed by God Almighty,
by His Father, how He suffered for the sin of His people to
pay the full price of redemption for the sin of His people. That
was an ordeal. What an expensive price to pay. But you know the Father accepted
it. The Father said it's enough. The debt's paid. When God sent
fire from heaven on David's burnt offering, you know what he was
showing him? I accept the sacrifice. How do we know the sacrifice
of Christ pleased the Father? How do we know the sacrifice
is enough? God raised him from the dead. The sacrifice was an
expensive sacrifice and it paid the price in full. Now let me
give you this. This is extra. This is what you
get for free. You know, there's lots of things as a church body
I'd like to do. I'd like to build an addition
and have a fellowship hall and all these things, you know. But
I'll tell you one thing we're not going to do. I guarantee
you we're not going to do this. We're not going to have a special
fundraising event. We're not going to get here in
the parking lot and have rummage sale. We're not doing that. What do
you put in a rummage sale? What you don't want anymore.
And if somebody doesn't buy it for a quarter, what are you going
to do with it? You're going to throw it away or you're going to donate
it to goodwill. God's church doesn't raise money
that way. God gets the first fruits. I get what's left over. I'm not going to do that. I'm
not going to offer to the Lord what cost me nothing. Anyway,
get that for free. The main point is this. If Christ
is going to redeem His people, He's going to pay the full price
to satisfy God's justice. And thank God He did. He satisfied
God's justice for His people. If Christ died for you, you don't
have to fear God's justice. You just don't fear it. God's
justice is not looking for you. Look at verse 27 in our text.
And the Lord commanded the angel, and he put up his sword again
into the sheep thereof. When God accepted the sacrifice,
what did he tell that angel? Take that sword of justice and
put it in the sheath. You're not going to be needing
it anymore. Justice is satisfied. And when Christ died, the sword
of God's justice that was plunged into the soul of the Lord Jesus
Christ was put up in its sheath. You're not going to need it anymore.
The father saw the death of Christ and he said, stop. It's enough. Stop destroying Jerusalem. Stop
destroying. Everything I require is paid. It's enough. If the Father, who's more wise than us, who
knows everything, not only is He good and He knows everything. The father said, it's enough. He looked at the sacrifice of
his son, he said, it's enough. Dale, why on earth would we say
I better add to it? That's just awful, horrible nature
we carry around. The father said, it's enough. The death of Christ is enough
to satisfy everything I require. God's not angry anymore. His
anger is poured out on our substitute. Christ, our substitute, died
and satisfied God's justice. So now there's peace. There's
peace. And you want to know what happened to Ornan's farm? David
bought it. And you know what his son Solomon
did with it? He built his temple right there on that threshing
floor. God is worshiped through the blood of the sacrifice. And
that blood put the sin of God's people away, and that's where
we worship. We worship a defeat of Christ
our King, Christ our sacrifice, and Christ our substitute. Thank
God for the plea of the substitute. He'd say, punish me and let my
people go free. Christ died for you. You go in
peace. Justice is satisfied. All right,
let's bow and pray.